Swept
by kim-onka
Summary: Jyn in the final scenes on Scarif, with Cassian (you know the thing). And vice versa. Slight RebelCaptain.
1. Jyn

Halfway through I stumbled upon a "countdown challenge" and thought it was fitting. Enjoy.

* * *

 _ **Ten**_

They stumble along the shore, trudging on in their desperate and irrational effort to get away when there is no getting away.

(It is such an abstract notion, still.)

There is noise around them – the loud, overwhelming noise of the world falling apart; and yet Jyn registers it only as coming from afar, as if she and Cassian are enclosed in a bubble where nothing is louder then their ragged breathing.

They are not running to get away, but merely to find their own place to die.

 _ **Nine**_

She has known it for a while, she just hasn't fully realised it, her mind occupied with the task at hand.

Now, Jyn understands it with all the striking clarity and impersonal detachment of a dream through which she moves as if she doesn't truly belong, there, under the Death Star looming enormous on Scarif's sky.

So this is what you see when you finally look up, she muses.

 _ **Eight**_

She doesn't even know if the Alliance received the plans.

She has to hope – _rebellions are built on hope!_ she remembers, and on the efforts of anonymous people playing their small parts which come together, bit by bit, step by step – and Jyn has played her part.

There rest is up to the others.

(Is she being short-sighted again?)

(Ah, but it doesn't matter any more.)

 _ **Seven**_

Cassian and Jyn collapse on the shore, hand in hand, chest to chest; their first shared instinct is to clutch at one another, but after a moment their muscles relax marginally and they embrace more steadily, if still tightly.

( _I'm not used to people sticking around._ )

( _Welcome home._ )

 **Six**

Jyn doesn't know, and yet there is a strange certainty in her.

She wonders briefly if it is the Force – if the Force really was with them – or if perhaps it is her personal victory that fills her with reassurance. She has gotten back at the man who had destroyed her family; she looked him in the eyes and told him he had lost by her hand, her, Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen and Lyra.

And she relished it.

Was it all it was about, in truth? Has always been personal, from the moment she saw the message and heard the old name, _Stardust?_

 _W_ ould she have ever looked up, if her Papa had not pointed at the stars?

 _ **Five**_

Cassian was right about her all along.

( _Some of us live it._ )

Then again, was he not the same?

Briefly, Jyn wonders what made him look up, what it was he had lost; she will never know, and briefly, she regrets.

 _ **F** **our**_

She remembers her father dying in her arms; the anger she had felt for most of her life seems so far away now, and she is grateful she could meet him one last time.

(Maybe she will see him again soon; she's never really pondered these issues, either.)

In the last few seconds of his life, Jyn took him home.

 _ **Three**_

There is a type of peace found when you have exhausted yourself and can only await whatever is to come.

Had she the strength, Jyn would perhaps be panicking; perhaps she would be mourning her young life; perhaps she would try to tell Cassian everything that had not yet fully crystallised inside of her.

Since she doesn't have the strength, all she can do is hold him as they watch, numbly, the blast approaching them.

 _ **Two**_

Jyn raises her chin and strengthens her grip on Cassian's shoulder.

(A detached thought crosses her mind, _it's beautiful._ )

 _ **One**_

The explosion swallows them in a deafening cloud of light, and there is nothing.


	2. Cassian

Cassian's side of this scene, a requested. Thank you for your interest! (Just don't ask me for the whole squad ;))

I tried to make it both parallel to Jyn's and unique to Cassian, let me know how this worked out. (By the way, from the movie I'd never tell Cassian was only 26).

* * *

 _ **Ten**_

They run unsteadily, fainting limbs hitting the wet sand, away from the place where they fulfilled their last mission.

(The closeness of death has finally settled into his mind with all the comfort of inescapability.)

There is commotion around them – the frantic, pointless commotion of the world ending; and yet Cassian only notes it in abstract terms, as if he and Jyn are separated from the surrounding turmoil, alone in their shared space, in these last moments.

After a life of fighting, Cassian is grateful even for this semblance of peace at the time of his death.

 _ **Nine**_

He has known it for a while; a part of him has expected no other outcome from the moment he offered to follow Jyn on this venture; and with this prospect at the back of his head, he committed himself fully to the task.

Now, the truth looms in Cassian's mind with the unmistakable presence of the Death Star above his head; it is here and now, within mere seconds, that the death he has eluded for so long will claim him.

Not a bad timing all together, he muses.

 _ **Eight**_

He doesn't even know if the Alliance received the plans.

He has to trust they did – what would Rebellion be without trust? – the way he trusted his fellow Rebels to play their part so many times before, just as Cassian played his – his efforts were ever only a part of the greater plan, falling neatly into their place in the great machine of opposition.

The final outcome outweighs his input.

(He is used to this, really.)

(Not that worrying about it would make any difference at this point.)

 _ **Seven**_

Jyn and Cassian collapse on the shore, and it is as if either one is at once falling over and trying to steady the other; Cassian fumbles his grip on her, which suddenly is desperate, and feels her arms wrap around him tightly; it is like fighting to keep their heads above the water for a few more seconds before the great wave engulfs them, as it unmistakably will.

(She is there, with him; Cassian unwinds, ever so slightly.)

(In truth, if he has any regrets, they are for Jyn.)

 _ **Six**_

Cassian doesn't know, but he strives to convince himself.

He pays no mind to the Force, as the Force has never made itself apparent to him; but deep down, a small part of him believes, or wants to believe, that there is something resembling an order in the universe; and for this reason he cannot let himself think the thought that all this death, all this sacrifice could be in vain.

That this unauthorised mission, a defiance of orders, which was supposed to make worthwhile all the atrocities he committed in his service to the Alliance, redeem all the orders he followed, that this mission will only weaken the Rebellion, perhaps irreparably.

That he encouraged Jyn to embark on a suicide mission that failed.

 _ **Five**_

Maybe Jyn was right about him after all.

Maybe the only differences between him and a Stormtrooper are the cause, the understanding, and the soothing words he had uttered before he shot the informant.

(Why didn't he shoot Galen Erso?)

(Was it because he knew he couldn't look in Jyn's eyes if he did?)

 _ **Four**_

He thinks back to his childhood, to a hazy memory of his father and a much more vivid one of fighting; it feels like he has always been fighting, even though there must have been a time when he didn't.

(Now, at last, it comes to an end.)

For years, the Rebellion has been the family Cassian would do anything for; briefly, he wonders whether there would ever be a chance of any other family.

 _ **Three**_

There is a type of exhaustion that carries the blissful knowledge that you have done all that you could, and whatever happens now, you can meet it in peace, with your head raised high.

Had he the strength, Cassian would perhaps be resentful; perhaps he would be angry at the conflict that has dominated his young life and would take it so soon; perhaps he would show his anger at the world that allowed him to meet Jyn yet denied him the chance of expressing how much she already means to him.

Since he doesn't have the strength, all he can do is hold her as they watch, mutely, the shockwave approaching them.

 _ **Two**_

Cassian turns to look at Jyn, the blooming explosion reflected in her dark eyes.

(A familiar thought crosses his mind, _she's beautiful._ )

 _ **One**_

The explosion swallows them in a blinding cloud of dust, and there is nothing.


End file.
